Nigel Brown is a sound artist who enjoys delving into the unknown and working within a situation of instability and negotiation. This approach applies across the various contexts in which he works: improvised performance, composition, installation, documentation, design.
Nigel’s regular improvised sound performances are based on sonic possibilities revealed through modifying, deconstructing and extending the piano accordion. These bending cluster drones, sympathetic vibrations and pummelling metallic excursions have occurred in solo and group settings in Australia, Asia and Europe, notably at venues and festivals including Dotolimpic, Seoul (2017), Tua-Tiu-Tiann International Festival of Arts, Taipei (2017), Kunsthalle Krems, Austria (2015), the Now now (2012 & 2015), Liquid Architecture (2010), Santander Muestra de Arte Sonoro, Spain (2009), National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, Taiwan (2009), 2pi, China (2007).
As a sound designer for theatre and dance Nigel specialises in the integration of sound in complex physical environments; working in close collaboration with set designers, programmers, performers and directors on approaches that blur boundaries between design disciplines. For Zoe Scoglio’s multi-award winning Shifting Ground, he created a custom multi-channel sound installation and cymatic table. For Ashley Dyer’s 2016 Green Room Award winning work, Tremor, he worked on large scale kinetic metal sculptures that are set in motion by resonant frequencies. In 2018 he is developing instruments based on the hurdy gurdy, to be mounted on interactive robotic bugs for Taiwan-based, Scarecrow Dance Company.
In 2016 he relocated from Melbourne, Australia, to Tainan, Taiwan to establish Ting Shuo Hear Say with Alice Hui-Sheng Chang. Ting Shuo Studio is a space for the promotion of listening practice and experimental music.
In 2018 he was commissioned by the Taiwan International Documentary Festival to create an audio documentary on the ‘home-factory’ sunset industry in southern Taiwan. Films by Kay Walkowiak for which he created the sound design have been exhibited at Leopold Museum Vienna and Lahore Biennale in 2018.
A graduate of RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia (BA(Media Arts), MFA), he has facilitated workshops for young people at ArtPlay (Australia), Ting Shuo Studio (Taiwan) and Binaural Media (Portugal) and given talks and workshops at higher education institutions in Australia and Taiwan.
Contact: brown.nigel@gmail.com